I'm sure there is an answer somewhere but I'm in a but of a rush so I'll ask again.

 

I'm reording my disks after a XFS migration.  If I want to have full control of what directories in a share go on which disk, how do I do that ?

 

i.e. User Share: Videos

Directories in Videos:  Movies, TV, TV Kids, Movies Kids, etc

 

If I want to assign onbe disk for movies and one for TV and other, but still under the same user share, what's the best way ?

 

I've set the share type to Fill-Up

 

Split level, what should that be ?  1 ?

 

In the end I want to control which video directory is on which disk.  I've already included and excluded disks in the share setting to minimise it to 2 disks for now.

... I've already included and excluded disks in the share setting to minimise it to 2 disks for now.

 

Don't use both -- either INCLUDE disks or EXCLUDE them.  No need for both.    If you want to exclude specific disks from a share, but let it use all other disks, then use Excludes.  If you want to specifically assign the disk you want a share to use, then use Includes.

 

As for the best way to absolutely control where your movies go -- just copy to the disk shares, NOT the user share.    No split level needed if you're doing that, since YOU control which disk your content is on.    Just think of the User share as a read-only share that's used to unify the views of your disks.

 

Another approach is to set split level to "0" (not blank, put a zero in there).

 

What this does is cause an object to be created on the same disk as it's parent, unless it's parent is on multiple disks.  In this case it selects which disk based on allocation method.

 

Here's how I use it.  I have:

Movies

Movies/DVD

Movies/Bluray

 

I want all DVD's to only be on disk1,2,3.

I want all Bluray to only be on disk4,5,6.

 

Next I create these directories (via windows explorer):

 

disk1/Movies/DVD

disk2/Movies/DVD

disk3/Movies/DVD

disk4/Movies/Bluray

disk5/Movies/Bluray

disk6/Movies/Bluray

 

Now go and set split level on Movies share to "0".

 

Let's say I copy a DVD called "my-movie" to the Movies/DVD folder.  unraid can choose between disk1-3 which one to put my-movie on to.

 

Let's say we run out of space to store more Bluray.  No problem, just create disk7/Movies/Bluray and now it will start using that disk.

 

Make sense?

Yep, thanks guys.

 

Once I finish the data shuffle that's going on now to change to XFS I'll lock down the shares.

 

I'd forgotten how long it takes to copy ~3tb of data

Another approach is to set split level to "0" (not blank, put a zero in there).

 

What this does is cause an object to be created on the same disk as it's parent, unless it's parent is on multiple disks.  In this case it selects which disk based on allocation method.

 

Here's how I use it.  I have:

Movies

Movies/DVD

Movies/Bluray

 

I want all DVD's to only be on disk1,2,3.

I want all Bluray to only be on disk4,5,6.

 

Next I create these directories (via windows explorer):

 

disk1/Movies/DVD

disk2/Movies/DVD

disk3/Movies/DVD

disk4/Movies/Bluray

disk5/Movies/Bluray

disk6/Movies/Bluray

 

Now go and set split level on Movies share to "0".

 

Let's say I copy a DVD called "my-movie" to the Movies/DVD folder.  unraid can choose between disk1-3 which one to put my-movie on to.

 

Let's say we run out of space to store more Bluray.  No problem, just create disk7/Movies/Bluray and now it will start using that disk.

 

Make sense?

This looks like something that will help me immensely.  I keep my media split by letter, but at the moment a letter is spread across all the disks included in the share.  I would prefer to keep a letter either confined to one disk, or set up so it covered a maximum of 2 disks.  I knew about split level 0 where you manually created the top level folders within the share to get media exactly where you wanted it.  However, I had never seen mention of the behaviour if you created the same top level folder on several disks. This will allow me to get the level of control I would like while still copying files primarily to the user shares.